MUSKEGON, MI -- Five buses of Muskegon area residents who participated in the right to work protests were on their way back from Lansing late Tuesday afternoon.

They were expected to arrive around 5 p.m.

The activists -- members of area union locals including SEIU, UAW, AFL-CIO, Plumbers and Pipefitters and MEA -- spent the day trying to convince lawmakers to vote against right to work legislation.

Union activist Steve Keglovitz of Fruitport said he was able to speak with State Rep. Marcia Hovey-Wright, D-Muskegon, and State Sen. Goeff Hansen, R-Hart, who represent this area. Hansen voted for the bill and Hovey-Wright opposed it.

Keglovitz said the conversation with the lawmakers, especially Hansen, was constructive and a good exchange. Hansen said the two agreed to disagree.

"I believe people have a right to decide whether they want to be part of a union and if financially supporting the union is the right choice for them," Hansen said.

The first-term senator said emotions were high at the capitol.

"Everybody had a chance to talk," Hansen said. "It's their right (to share their views)."

Sean Mullally, a Muskegon County Democratic activist and an officer of United Auto Workers Local 1243 at Alcoa Howmet in Whitehall, also was in Lansing and recorded scenes around the State Capitol of the 10,000 people on the lawn and blocked off city streets.

The proposed legislation would change state law to no longer require employees to pay union dues or fees as a condition of employment. Currently, workers don't have to join a union. But if they don't, they still have to pay fees anyway. The new law is not expected to affect automakers until 2015, when new contracts will be negotiated.

Michigan, which has the fifth-highest percentage of union members in the United States, would be just the second state in the industrial Midwest and Northeast with such a law, joining Indiana. Nearly 18 percent of Michigan workers are union members.

MLive is covering the event through a live blog and you can read reporters Twitter posts as they covered the afternoon events.